Lucky.

Melody takes me aback every day with new words that come out of her perfect pink mouth. She repeats everything. Like a little sponge, she takes it all in.

Our favorite thing right now is "Yeaaah."
Are you hungry? "Unree. Yeaaah."
Want to go play with Theo? "Eo. Yeaaaah."

Though we also adore her raspy little "No."
Can I have a hug? "No ug" she says, with a fierce head-shaking.
A lady in the pizzeria says hi. Say hi to the lady, Melody! "No hi."

But don't be mistaken--this toddler doesn't lack affection! In fact, she's currently the Queen of kisses. Her newest thing is grabbing my face before planting one on, which kills me. When she gets into kissing mode, she insists on taking turns kissing all of us, over and over. She also offers big hugs, which get me emotional every time.

I know all moms love getting hugs and kisses from their toddlers. But they can't possibly know how lucky they are if they haven't experienced a toddler who can't kiss and hug. I know it's taboo to compare kids, but this blog is about full frontal honesty--and Theo did not kiss and hug at 2. It's OK for me to talk about this. We all know what a mushball he is now. But at the time, I didn't know if he'd ever kiss or hug or say I love you. I was still waiting to hear "Mommy."

Which is why I get that little extra heartstring tug when I open the door and hear Melody shout "Mommyyyyyy!" All moms feel lucky, but I get that extra pang with each kiss.

But hey, guess who's teaching her to be such a good linguist and skilled affectionado--her big brother. Which makes me really, really lucky.